


Forked-Tail Kit-Snatcher

by StevetheIcecube



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Gen, first hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-24
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-24 12:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/940176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StevetheIcecube/pseuds/StevetheIcecube
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On her first hunt, her mentor, Fire Blaze, seems cold and distant.</p><p>But Lark Song can't help but be impressed by his skill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forked-Tail Kit-Snatcher

"Hey, Lark's Song," said Fire Blaze, my mentor. "I'm going hunting. I want you to watch, and then catch your own."

"Why do I catch my own, why don't the Tribes catch prey for each other?"

Fire Blaze sighed "It doesn't work that way, Lark's Song. Stop being so foolish."

"But I'm not foolish! I'm the newest Softpaw!"

"Yes, you are. That is why you have to learn to hunt." I sighed as he left the camp, and I followed. It wasn't fair! Why hadn't I seen The Tribe of Dark Night's territory yet? Our marshes and pine trees, with a half of the forest of which The Tribe of Rushing Water owned the other.

I followed Fire Blaze silently. I'd been told by Sparrow's Song, my mother, that he was one of the harshest Sharpclaws around the lake. I was unlucky to get him as a mentor, I think. Well, I know that when he turns, his smoky red face peering back at me. "Come on! I need to teach you how to hunt before sun down. That's not going to happen at this pace. I need you to speed up!"

He ran ahead at those words, and I had no choice but to sprint to catch up. "Stop!" He hissed at me when the trees thinned out slightly. "Carry on a that speed, and you'll fall in the lake!" I stopped suddenly. As Fire Blaze had said, there was a huge expanse of water in front of me, and the rising sun reflected off of it. There was an island in the distance, covered in trees. If I looked really closely, there was a patrol of The Tribe of Rushing Water cats at the other Tribe's border just silhouetted in the distance.

I heard Fire Blaze crouch to the forest floor. I looked around. Nothing I could see. I scented the air, and caught a whiff of something hard and bird like. "What is it?" I whispered.

"This is a Forked-tail kit snatcher. It hardly ever hunts, but prefers to snatch our kill. And our kits, especially the larger brown and white ones, they seem to look like deer. Now shut your mouth!" Without warning, Fire Blaze sprang at the huge bird, talons outstretched. It squawked in alarm and took flight, but not before Fire Blaze's teeth snapped shut around its leg.

"Wow..." I said, awed at his grace in hunting.

"Now you get something. There's a mouse over there." He pointed his tail at a small hole. "Careful of how you tread. Be careful it doesn't scent you. Stay light on your paws..." He trailed off as I started my stalking.

I pounced as the mouse fled its tiny hole. It was plump and brown, and fast. But I managed to snag it on the edge of my claws.

"Good catch." Fire Blaze said, smiling.


End file.
